27 September,2016 10:50 AM IST | | Shashank Rao
The brand new buses are expected to hit the road by June 2017, and will cost BEST around Rs 60 lakh each
No more damaged seats, non-functional CCTVs or broken handles in the buses for you, if BEST manages to pull off their latest promise successfully. According to a decision taken few months ago, the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking will add on close to 300 new and upgraded single-decker buses, which will start plying on roads from next year.
Delivery by next year
"The delivery of these 303 automatic transmission buses will be completed in the first half of the next calendar year," said an official from Tata Motors, the manufacturer of the new fleet of buses that will hit the roads before June 2017.
Average age of the current BEST buses is 9 to 10 years and as per rule, the buses that are above 15 years are being scrapped. Till now, around 120 or more have been scrapped, BEST officials maintain.
Buses of 15 yrs scrapped
"The buses are being scrapped since April last year and the new buses will be of improved version," said Jagdish Patil, General Manager, BEST Undertaking. The new buses cost around Rs 55-60 lakh each and will have additional features that promise to make the journey comfortable. (See box)
For one, there will be a stable air conditioning system, as against what exists in the current ones. Out of 260 AC buses, almost 50 per cent are stationed in the depot for repairing work. The manufacturing of the new buses has already started and BEST hopes to keep up that promise along with the other ones - making ticketing and Expected Time of Arrival available of mobile phones, which is in the tendering stage.
